A citizens' committee, tied to left-leaning political parties, has vowed to go ahead and enforce Monday's half-day general strike in Dhaka, despite repeated requests from businesses and the government to call off the strike.

The government has also warned that law enforcers will thwart any move to create anarchy in the name of hartal.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and the Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BSD) in separate statements on Sunday asked their supporters to enforce hartal in the capital, the first such political strike since the Awami League government came to power in January. The National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, has called the strike to protest the government's recently announced gas exploration deals with international companies.

Bangladesh, on Aug 24, approved offshore oil and gas exploration deals with US company ConocoPhillips and Ireland's Tullow Oil Ltd in three sea blocks of the resource-rich Bay. The national committee says a provision in the off-shore deals allows the foreign companies to export up to 80 percent of extracted gas, which constitutes a threat to the energy security of Bangladesh. Monday's strike has also been called to protest what the committee said was an "unwarranted police attack" on its members, including economics teacher Professor Anu Muhammad, during a demonstration against the exploration deals on Sep 2.

The home minister on Sunday made a last call for the committee to withdraw the general strike, but said the government would not hinder a peaceful protest. Leading business organisations such as FBCCI and the BGMEA have also urged the committee to call off the hartal citing harm to the economy, while ruling Awami League and its smaller left associates have requested the same. The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), on the other hand, has extended its support to the strikers.

The national committee has asked for public support ahead of the planned hartal. "It was called to protect present and future generations of Bangladesh," convener of the committee Sheikh Mohammed Shahidullah and member secretary Prof Anu Muhammad said in a joint statement on Saturday. BSD convener Comrade Khalequzzaman, in a statement Sunday, asked the people to "build up a mass resistance against the attacks on committee supporters as well as smuggling of national resources". The CPB also asked its supporters to make Monday's strike a success.

'Call off strike'

Home minister Sahara Khatun asked for a halt to the hartal programme, but said the government would not thwart the protest as long as it remains peaceful, but any move to create anarchy would be resisted. She made the comment at a meeting on law and order at the Bangladesh Secretariat. Sahara said the national committee had called the strike over a "trifling matter", and leaders of shop owners association would not be happy with the shutdown as it would hamper their businesses during a busy period ahead of Eid.

She said the committee's demand could be discussed in dialogue. "Place your demand to be resolved through dialogue. Calling strike ahead of Eid and Puja is not acceptable," she said. She asked the law enforces to stay alert so that no untoward incident could take place.

BNP voices support

The main opposition BNP, however, reaffirmed support for the hartal on Sunday and said it would support programmes designed to protest any move against the Bangladesh's interest. Delwar accused the government of acting against national interest by handing over gas blocks to foreign companies. "As we are supporting the strike, now some … are blaming us for instigating the strike," Delwar told party activists at a discussion. "But BNP will continue supporting any move against national interest," he added.

Businesses demand ignored

BGMEA added its voice Sunday to those calling for cancellation of the planned strike. A statement by the trade body said garment owners were trying to pay wages and allowances to its workers ahead of Eid and a hartal could hamper the payment process. It also said the growth of the sector is following a negative trend in the face of global recession, and hartals would only add to strains on the RMG industry and the economy as a whole.

The country's apex business federation, FBCCI, in a statement on Saturday, also opposed the planned hartal. It said the reasons cited for the strike could be resolved through discussions and did not require such action. FBCCI said the strike would hamper public life as well as business. FBCCI said it was on the side of ensuring the highest level of transparency and neutrality in awarding off-shore exploration deals to foreign companies. It hoped agreement would be reached peacefully over this national issue to maintain a stable economic and safeguard business activities.

'Talk, don't strike

Former adviser to the caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan also spoke on the issue Sunday. He said those who called the hartal should engage the government in constructive dialogue, while the government should clarify its position on gas exploration deals in the Bay of Bengal. "It's more important to dialogue with the government than calling a hartal on the streets of the capital," Khan told reporters after attending a seminar in the city.

20 leading citizens demand suspension of police personnel

Meanwhile, a memorandum signed by over 20 civil society leaders has called for immediate suspension of police personnel involved in the alleged police assault on Prof Anu Muhammad. "We believe a democratic country should allow freedom of expression and association, and such behaviour from law enforcement agencies should not go unaccounted or unpunished," said a statement signed by Dr Meghna Guhathakurta, on behalf of 24 civil society members issued Saturday. The statement also called for an independent and impartial investigation into the incident as "no information was made available to the public" on steps taken by the government to date.

-bdnews

Half-day hartal today

The New age: The national committee to protect oil, gas, mineral resources, power and ports has called a half-day hartal in the Dhaka city today against the government’s decision to award three offshore gas blocks to international oil companies with provision of gas export. Ambulances, emergency power supply, hospitals, medicine shops, vehicles of fire services and kitchen markets will remain out of the purview of the general strike from 6:00am to 12 noon, the committee said in a statement on Sunday.

The committee, different left leaning political organisations and 11 civic leaders requested people in the city to observe the general strike, the first since the present government took office in January, spontaneously and peacefully to save the country’s energy resources. The committee convener, Sheikh Md Shaheedullah, and member secretary Professor Anu Muhammad in a statement called upon city residents to make the hartal a success ignoring all propaganda.

They demanded cancellation of the decision to lease out three offshore blocks allowing export of 80 per cent of the extracted gas. They also demanded ban on gas export and invitation of new tender for awarding the offshore blocks. They demanded punishment of the people responsible for the police atrocities on the committee activists and leaders on September 2.

The national committee held a rally in Muktangan in Dhaka on Sunday evening in support of the hartal. Leaders of the committee requested the shop owners’ association not to make provocative comments against hartal and asked all to be vigilant so that no one gained any political benefit by supporting hartal. Among others, Shaheedullah, Haider Akbar Khan Rano, Ruhin Hossain Price, Bazlur Rahid Firoz, Moshrefa Mishu, Tipu Biswas, Abdus Salam, Zonayed Saki and Nur Mohammad spoke on the occasion. Later a procession was brought out.

The Bangladesh Chhatra Federation and other left student organisations brought out a torch procession at Dhaka University in the evening. Eleven academics and civic leaders in a joint statement, meanwhile, requested people to observe the hartal. ‘The national committee has been forced to call the strike on an emergency basis as the government has finalised the contract within this Ramadan for selling out the country’s gas resource,’ they said in the statement.

They said the hartal would cause some losses, but in the long run it will stop losses which are thousand times higher. ‘The government is entirely responsible for the situation as it took the move to award the blocks during this time,’ they said. Among others, Dr Khan Sarwar Murshid, Professor Serajul Islam Choudhury, Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, Justice Golam Rabbani, Syed Abul Maqsud, Professor Akmal Hossain, Professor AN Rasheda, Professor Mesbah Kamal, Professor MM Akash, Professor Pias Karim and Professor Abu Ahmed signed the statement.

Communist Party of Bangladesh president Manjurul Ahsan Khan and general secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim also blamed the government for forcing the national committee to call strike during Ramadan by taking decision to award the blocks to the IOCs. ‘The government is trying to deceive the countrymen by handing over the natural resources to foreign companies in the month of Ramadan. The people of the country will resist the move with their lives,’ they said, calling upon people of the city to observe the strike.

Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal convener Khalequzzaman, Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh president Khondoker Abbas Ali and general secretary Saiful Haque, Gonosanghati Andolon, Democratic Left Alliance, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front and Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal-ML also requested people to observe the hartal. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, meanwhile, requested the national committee to withdraw their hartal, saying that the strike ahead of Eid might hamper the process of giving salaries and bonuses to employees. The organisation in a statement also said the strike would also affect the garments industry as well as the economy of the country. The apex trade body, FBCCI made a similar request Saturday.

6-hr hartal today on gas block issue

The Daily Star: The National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports enforces a half-day hartal today in Dhaka city to press their demand for scrapping the government decision to "lease out" offshore gas blocks to foreign companies. Meanwhile, Home Minister Sahara Khatun yesterday warned that stern action would be taken if any chaos is created in the name of hartal.

To maintain law and order during hartal hours 1,650 armed forces personnel will be deployed additionally at different strategic points of the city, said Walid Hossain, additional deputy commissioner of DMP (Public Relations). Despite repeated calls for withdrawing hartal by different political parties and trade bodies, the committee and different political organisations called upon all to make the strike a success from 6:00am-12:00noon. Different organisations held rallies and processions in the city yesterday in favour of the hartal.

At a rally at Muktangon yesterday, the committee demanded scrapping leases of off-shore blocks to foreign companies to explore oil and gas, cancelling the model PSC (Production Sharing Contracts) 2008. It also demanded that to secure national interest new PSCs should be made, inviting fresh tenders to explore oil and gas and Phulbari contract be implemented. In a statement, the committee convenor Engineer Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah and member secretary Prof Anu Muhammad called upon the city dwellers to observe hartal spontaneously and peacefully, ignoring all kinds of propaganda. Ambulance, emergency electricity supply, hospitals, medicine shops, fire brigade vehicles and kitchen markets will remain out of the purview of hartal, the statement said.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) urged all to refrain from observing the hartal. In a press release yesterday, the trade body said the owners are now busy paying salary and bonus to the workers and the hartal at this time would hamper the process. They noted that the export-oriented garment industries in the country have been badly affected by the global economic downturn and owners are still making frantic efforts to cope with the losses.

The BGMEA leaders also said that the hartal will push the country's overall economic activities, including readymade garment industry, into further uncertainly. On Saturday, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) urged the committee to call off the hartal. Jatiya Gonotantrik League and Bangladesher Sammyabadi Dal said the hartal is not timely and logical while Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote said the hartal is a conspiracy to cripple the economy of the country. Meanwhile, eleven eminent citizens including Dr Khan Sarwar Murshid, Prof Serajul Islam Choudhury, Prof Muzaffer Ahmad and Justice Ghulam Rabbani in a statement urged the people to observe the hartal. Communist Party of Bangladesh, Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal, among others, also called upon all to make the hartal a success.

HOME MINISTER WARNS ABOUT ANARCHY:

Home Minister Sahara Khatun yesterday warned that stern action would be taken if any chaos is created in the name of hartal called for today from 6:00 am to 12:00 noon in the city. "No anarchy will be tolerated in the name of hartal," said the home minister urging the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports to withdraw the hartal for the sake of the people. Briefing newsmen after a meeting on law and order ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja at her ministry, she also urged the committee to sit for a dialogue with the government to settle their demand through discussions. Terming the hartal as 'completely unnecessary', she said enforcing the hartal is not a right decision ahead of Eid as it would increase public sufferings.

Sahara said transport leaders and shop owners association told them that they do not accept the hartal and announced that they will keep their shops and markets open and run their vehicles on the roads during the hartal period. She however said the government would not put pressure if anyone keeps his shop closed or chooses not to run vehicles responding to the hartal call. The home minister said the law enforcement agencies have been directed to take tough action if anyone disrupts public security and creates anarchy in the name of hartal. Claiming that the law and order situation is 'good', she said the law enforcers have been trying their best to keep the situation stable.

Briefing journalists, home secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder said the home ministry would take special measurers to ensure security of people during the upcoming Eid and Puja from September 20 to 29. He said a total of 30,789 policemen, 3,200 members from Rab, 130,000 members from Ansar battalion, 18 teams of detective branch of police and 14 teams of women police would work to ensure security across the country during the period besides regular deployment of the law enforcement agencies. The home secretary said leave of police has been cancelled during the period and added that additional police forces would be deployed in the capital during the hartal hours to maintain law and order. He said this year a total of 21,913 puja mandaps (worship pavilions), including 178 in Dhaka and 198 in the Chittagong, would be set up across the country.

Call for half-day hartal today

The New Nation: The National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas Mineral Resources, Power and Ports will enforce a half-day hartal in the capital city today ignoring requests of some of its allied political parties the government and the businesses community. The shutdown has been called by the committee to protest against a government decision to sign production sharing contract with two foreign companies over exploration of offshore gas.

The national committee claims a provision in the off-shore deals allows the foreign companies to export up to 80 percent of extracted gas, which constitutes a threat to the energy security of Bangladesh. The committee will also protest an "unwarranted attack" by police on its activists during a demonstration on September 2. This happens to be the first general strike after a long lull since December 21, 2006 when the Awami League-led grand alliance had enforced a countrywide dawn-to-dusk hartal as part of their joint movement to resist any blueprint election.

Home Minister Sahara Khatun yesterday said that the government would not tolerate any kind of indiscipline in the name of hartal. On a note of forewarning, the Minister said, "We won't allow any kind of indiscipline stemming from the hartal. If so happened, the law-enforcing agencies would take measures." She also was hopeful that the committee would call off hartal in view of the double festivals--Eid and Puja, the first one only a week away. Different organisations and important personalities yesterday issued statements against or in favour of today's hartal.

Convener of the committee Sheikh Mohammed Shahidullah and member secretary Prof Anu Muhammad of the national committee called upon the people to observe a peaceful hartal to press home their demands against signing any deal with foreign companies with the provision of export option. Businessmen and leaders of ruling Awami League have urged the committee to withdraw its announcement of a half-day hartal today (Monday).

Ganotantri Party, Workers Party, National Awami Party (NAP), Sammayabadi Dal and some other leftist parties, who are used to back of the National Committee, also have asked for a halt to the hartal in recent days, while the main opposition BNP voiced their support for the strike on Friday. Dr Kamal Hossain led Gano Forum has urged for a national unity regarding exploration of offshore oil and gas.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries have requested the national committee to withdraw the hartal to allow normal activities to take place during Ramadan ahead of Eid. They said the reasons cited for the hartal could be resolved through discussions and did not require such action.

Former adviser to the caretaker government Akbar Ali Khan has said organisers of hartal should engage the government in constructive dialogue, while the government should clarify its position on gas exploration deals in the Bay of Bengal. "It's more important to dialogue with the government than calling a hartal on the streets of the capital," Khan told reporters after attending a discussion yesterday at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel on budget presentation in parliament.

Khan said a televised debate on issues raised by the national committee would allow differing points of view to be heard and allow the general public to make up their own minds. "However, the important thing is the national committee is saying something, but the government is not listening. They're not discussing the matter in parliament or with the public," said Khan. He said the government was at liberty to sign agreements with different parties, but was also obliged to explain its position if any dispute arose regarding them.

Dhaka set for shutdown

The Indepedent: Despite requests from the government and the business community, the National Committee to Protect Oil-Gas Mineral Resources, Power and Ports will enforce a half-day hartal in the capital city today (Monday) for preventing lease of gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal to foreign companies. After a pause of three and a half years, Dhaka is going to experience the first hartal today.

Over the weeks different organisations and the government have been urging the committee to reconsider the hartal call, the first general strike in the city since the Awami League-led grand alliance came to power in January. Meanwhile, the convenor and member secretary of the committee yesterday called upon the phone to observe the hartal peacefully. The leaders, Eng. Sheikh Muhammad Shahidullah and Prof Anu Mohammad, also told the people not to be confused by any propaganda, but 'join the movement to protect national resources.'

The Bangladesh Communist Party and the Revolutionary Workers Party of Bangladesh, through press releases, have also urged the people to make the hartal a success. The committee made the shutdown call to press for scrapping the government's decision to 'lease out' offshore gas blocks to foreign companies and also to protest against what they said 'unwarranted police attack' on its members during a demonstration on September 2.

They kept ambulances, emergency electricity, hospitals, drug stores, fire brigade vehicles, and kitchen markets out of the hartal purview. Meanwhile, Home Minister Sahara Khatun yesterday urged the hartal callers to withdraw the hartal considering the upcoming Eid. Talking to journalists at her office she warned the committee saying that the government would get tough if anyone try to create anarchy in the name of hartal. She said that additional police would be deployed during the hartal in the city as well as across the country to maintain law and order.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers & Exporters Association (BGMEA) yesterday called upon the committee to withdraw the hartal. A BGMEA statement said when garments owners were busy paying wages to workers ahead of Eid, hartal could hamper the process. It also said the sector was witnessing a negative trend every day in the face of global recession, and hartals would only push the sector to uncertainty and the economy as a whole.

The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) yesterday also called upon the hartal callers to withdraw today's hartal. In a press release the chamber said; "We feel that the hartal will cause suffering to the general public in the holy month of Ramzan and affect the entire business of the country before Eid-ul-Fitr." Besides it will hinder production in mills and industries, it also said.

The press release also said that the DCCI would never supports hartal as a programme to realise demands and said that issues relating to the gas, and coal exploration could be resolved through mutual discussion between the government and the national committee. The country's apex business federation, the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) on Saturday urged the committee to call off their half-day hartal. It also suggested resolving issues through discussions.